Live: TikTok CEO testifies before Senate on child-safety rules

TikTok CEO is testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee this morning on the platform's child-safety practices. This page will update throughout the hearing.

The hearing is expected to cover four specific topics: the platform's age-verification systems, its handling of content that promotes self-harm or eating disorders to minors, its Live-streaming gift-purchase flow and whether the flow is age-gated appropriately, and the company's responses to internal research on teen mental-health effects that was made public in a 2023 whistleblower disclosure.

Senate Judiciary Chair Richard Blumenthal's opening statement framed the session as "overdue" and pointed to six high-profile cases in the committee's jurisdiction where parents have alleged that TikTok-specific mechanics contributed to a minor's suicide or severe mental-health crisis. Ranking Member Lindsey Graham's opening statement echoed Blumenthal's framing.

Expected witnesses alongside TikTok's CEO: the US Surgeon General, the head of the FTC's Consumer Protection Bureau, and a panel of child-safety researchers whose work has been cited repeatedly in pending state-level platform-liability bills.

This story is being updated live. Refresh the page for the latest.